Several county government officials noted the misfortune at possibly having to return $39,000 in federal grant funding awarded back in 2011.
"It's just unfortunate that money is not going to be used in the county," Jill Griffin, executive director of Seneca Regional Planning, said.
Board President Ben Nutter also called the situation "unfortunate."
What they lamented was that last year, only one other project was approved to receive Community Development Block Grant funding alloted to the county. There still is a chance at least some of that $39,000 could be spent on road work in Bettsville.
But taxpayers can find it fortunate Republic Village Council declined that funding, which had been approved to make the village office handicapped accessible. Council members figured the work could be done for a fraction of that amount - without federal help.
Yet it also raises two questions: How many other projects become more expensive when federal funds are involved; and how much could governmental spending be reduced without such projects.?
